Rack-mounted communications and information technology equipment, such as servers, CPUs, communications and internetworking equipment, consume electrical power and generate heat during operation. Without effective thermal management, heat generation can have adverse effects on the performance, reliability and useful life of equipment. For instance, heat generated from rack-mounted equipment contained within an enclosure can build-up within the confines of the enclosure and create hot spots that electronic components are particularly vulnerable to. Similarly, without managing the thermal output of equipment racks or enclosures, hot spots and adverse thermal conditions can develop in equipment rooms and data centers, creating inferior operating environments.
The amount of heat a given equipment rack or enclosure can generate varies considerably and depends on the amount of electrical power rack-mounted equipment draw during operation. Thermal output can be reported as kilowatts of power consumed and can range widely from a few tens of watts up to about 10 kW, depending upon the type of equipment. As equipment needs change and new equipment needs develop, heat output can change significantly as equipment components are added, replaced or rearranged within a rack, requiring adjustments to any thermal management protocol. For instance, depending upon the type and the number of components, heat output can vary from a few watts per U unit of rack capacity to over 1 kW per U unit.
Rack-mounted equipment components are typically designed to meet cooling requirements by drawing air from an air intake portion of a rack or enclosure across their exterior surfaces and/or through interior portions of components to thereby remove heat and cool components. Effective heat management of a given rack or enclosure therefore requires a sufficient volume of cooling air and an effective airflow rate into the rack or enclosure to meet cooling needs. For instance, most equipment designs require cooling airflow rates of from about 120 cubic feet per minute (cfm) per kilowatt of power consumed. In this instance, a rack or enclosure that consumes about 15 kW of electrical power would require a relatively substantial airflow rate of about 1,800 cfm.
Prior art systems and methods for cooling rack-mounted equipment components and providing thermal management typically include an air conditioning or cooling system that supplies and circulates cool or chilled air to equipment rooms and data centers. Many of such prior art systems and methods include a raised or double floor infrastructure of an equipment room or data center to facilitate air conditioning and air circulation functions. Raised or double floor construction includes an air supply channel defined between an outer floor and a lower floor of an equipment room or data center that delivers cool or chilled air from an air conditioning or cooling system to the equipment room or data center. Cool or chilled air is typically vented into the equipment room from the supply channel through open floor tiles, grills or vents located in front of racks and enclosures and along aisles between rows of racks and enclosures. In addition, cool or chilled air is vented from the supply channel directly into rack and enclosure interiors using ducts or hoses connected over open floor tiles, grills or vents.
Racks and enclosures that house high power equipment, e.g., consuming from about 5 kW up to about 15 kW of power, consequently have a high thermal output and would require high airflow rates of up to approximately 1,800 cfm to manage heat generated and to cool equipment components. Open floor tiles, grills or vents used in raised floor configurations typically define a venting area of about one (1) square foot and are typically configured to deliver approximately 200 cfm to 500 cfm of cooling air. Such airflow rates can be affected by a number of conditions and obstructions including static air pressure and other floor tiles. As a result, typical airflow rates delivered through floor tiles, grills or vents are more likely on the order of approximately 100 cfm to 200 cfm. Therefore, to provide high airflow rates of up to approximately 1,800 cfm for a rack or enclosure of high power equipment, 3.5 to about 5 open floor tiles, grills or vents would be required to supply sufficient cooling air. This floor configuration may be difficult or impossible to provide if the equipment room or data center is crowded and includes multiple high power racks or enclosures, and such racks or enclosures are arranged side-by-side in rows.
In addition, raised floor configurations are relatively inflexible with respect to reconfiguring and rearranging an equipment room or data center to meet changing and new equipment needs. To accommodate changes in cooling requirements as a result of equipment room reconfiguration, raised floor configurations and associated cooling systems would need to be reconfigured and/or retrofitted at considerable cost to provide different and new airflow rates and paths. Such raised floor configurations therefore do not inexpensively accommodate the manner in which equipment components and racks or enclosures are deployed in an equipment room.
Further, raised floor configurations and associated cooling systems are not flexible or portable with respect to different power consumptions between different racks and enclosures and different areas within a given equipment room or data center. Therefore, a given equipment room can have different airflow requirements between racks and between rows of racks. In this case, raised floor configurations cannot easily and cost effectively vary and/or concentrate cooling airflow where needed within the equipment room. Local thermal problems, such as thermal gradients and hot spots, therefore can result due to insufficient cooling.
Thus, a cost effective device and/or system is needed to accommodate relatively high airflow rates required to meet the cooling requirements of equipment components and racks and enclosures generating relatively high thermal outputs while providing portability and flexibility with respect to configuration of rack and equipment rooms and data centers.